The phrase ‘jumping to conclusions’ is a familiar one, but have you ever stopped to think how much this process is effecting your mental health? In fact, this mindset is a huge factor in facilitating social anxiety and delusional disorders and can have detrimental effects not only on your mental…
Let me ask you a question. Here’s a scenario. You see a group of your friends huddled together and laughing. Suddenly, they see you and they stop. What would be your immediate reaction? Would you think they were laughing at your expense? Perhaps you imagined they were spreading malicious rumours…
Have you ever shouted obscenities at a passing driver for the smallest thing but felt completely justified? Are you usually mild-mannered but find that behind the wheel of a car you're a totally different person? You’re probably prone to road rage. But what causes it and why do normal people…
There are many cognitive biases that influence our decisions and judgements, but have you ever heard of survivorship bias? I hadn’t until I read about a particular problem and a very clever man who solved it. Survivorship Bias and WWII Fighter Planes Here’s the problem. It’s 1943 and we are…
Ever wondered by the negative things always stick in your mind more than the positive? The reason is negativity bias. What is negativity bias and why are we prone to it? It’s common to hold on to the negative things said about us rather than the compliments we receive. They…
If you feel your organization skills are somewhat lacking, you may be falling victim to the planning fallacy. We are all guilty of mistaken planning, leaving us rushing to meet deadlines and finish tasks we thought we had plenty of time to finish. However, it happens to some of us…
Have you ever been shocked that people don't agree with you when you assumed they would? You may be experiencing the false consensus effect. What is the false consensus effect? False consensus effect is a cognitive bias which causes people to overestimate the normality of their opinions, beliefs, values, and…
We all like to think we are completely unbiased when we make decisions, but, actually, there are a number of things that influence us. One of them is the Bandwagon Effect. What is the Bandwagon Effect? The Bandwagon Effect is a psychological cognitive bias in which people do, say or…
